Resources

CGM Systems, Inc. - Technology Consulting since 1988
(all information is provided as-is and without warranty. You assume all risk for it's use)

CGM Systems, Inc.
Resources home
Contact Us
Online Store

CGM Systems Home

Resources Home

Computer and Internet Security tools

This page has some tools that we have found extremely useful in enhancing the security of our systems.

Check your ports

The Shields Up site. To access this site, go to http://grc.com/intro.htm . Look for the shields up banner and click that. An alternative is to click https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 for a direct link to Shields Up. (you might want to go to the main site anyway since Steve Gibson has some great material there. Read that page and then do the "test my shields" and "probe my ports". You want to see that everything is showing as "stealth" and that there are no security breeches.
The Guardian Angel http://www.theguardianangel.com/security_scans.htm You can find a bunch of port scanners here that will hammer your connection looking for open ports.
Wallwatcher is an application that you run from any workstation on your network. It will monitor your linksys firewall and show incoming and outgoing events. You can set a trigger to alert you when someone is hitting your firewall. The best part is that this is a free download.
Norton/Symantec go to http://securityresponse.symantec.com/ - Once there, look for the button marked "check for security risks" . Choose Security scan.

Reading

Buy This Book

One of the best books available about computer security is Clifford Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg. If you have anything to do with any computer systems (including your home system) you definitely should read this book.

Stoll was an astronomy professor at Berkley in the 80's. He was put in charge of the computers and found a 75 cent accounting error. He got on the trail and stayed on it until he uncovered a hacker from Germany. This hacker was breaking into some of the most secure military installations in the country.

The book reads like a novel, not a computer text. Stoll exposes many of the techniques that the hackers used to gain entrance into various systems. Surprisingly, I see many systems today that have the same vulnerabilities that the hacker exploited (unpatched operating systems, weak passwords, trojan horses and more)

You can order it by clicking on the link on the left.

There is a page about Stoll at Cliff Stoll resources. If you get a chance, check out the audio of one of his speeches. He is definitely an energetic guy.

Firewalls

If you have high speed internet, you should never connect your PC directly to a cable or dsl modem. Instead, you should connect the modem to a router/switch/firewall and then connect the PCs to the router (Some broadband providers are now providing modem/router/switch/firewall/wireless combination devices. These will work also since they provide the services of a hardware firewall.

If you have Windows XP, you should turn on your firewall or install a program such as Norton Internet Security or MacAffee with a software firewall.

If you have an older version of Windows, you can get a software firewall free for personal use at www.zonealarm.com Look for the free download at the bottom of the page. Note - There is a learning curve when you use firewalls. Be prepared to spend some time learning how to configure and use it.

If you are running a Linksys firewall, you might want to consider downloading a free copy of wallwatcher at www.wallwatcher.com. This simple utility can run on any of your machines. You can watch inbound and outbound traffic and it will alert you of suspected attacks.

Firewall Tips:

You can temporarily disable Norton's Firewall by right clicking on the icon in the tray. This is handy when you know a site is one you can trust but your firewall is blocking it. Be sure to re-enable the firewall as soon as possible.
Norton Firewall and Internet Security 2005 will automatically recognize your network. If you are using older versions of the Norton firewall, you will need to configure it to tell it to trust your network. Find the firewall configuration and tell it to trust 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.255 for most networks.
If you are running a third party firewall such as Norton, MacAffee or Zone Alarm, be sure to turn off the Windows Firewall.
Read the firewall notices carefully when they pop up. There are two mistakes you can make (1) let a bad guy through or (2) prevent traffic from a good guy.

Antivirus

Of course, you should always be running an up to date antivirus program. Check out our Software Reviews for information on some of the latest antivirus and internet security packages.

Antivirus Tips

For Norton Antivirus, even if you are running an automatic Liveupdate, you should run a manual Liveupdate once every two weeks or so. It seems that the automatic Liveupdate does not update everything.
In some cases, running your antivirus scan from Safe Mode will allow you to find and kill virii that would otherwise remain hidden.

Other issues

Most of the major antivirus publishers don't provide enough protection against what is known as spyware, scumware, parasiteware or adware. You still need additional products to deal with these threats. Check out our pages on Scumware and antivirus utilities.

Security Software and Hardware.

Rootkit Revealer - Many times malware can hide itself from antivirus tools. Rootkit revealer can help find these hidden applications
Packet Sniffers - These applications are a two edged sword. They can be great for isolating network problems. On the other hand they can be used by someone to watch traffic on your network and steal critical information

Miscellaneous Tips:

More Security:

CGM Systems, Inc.
Resources home
Contact Us
Online Store

Main Menu . .

Legal Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided as-is and without warranty. Rates are subject to change without notice. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. You may link to any page in this site, but you may not frame the content. Use of this site implies agreement to these terms. For more information, please see our policies About us: CGM Systems, Inc. is located in Southampton, Pennsylvania. We provide consulting services in the Greater Philadelphia area including Bucks County and Montgomery County. Some services such as website design are provided nationally. Some of the communities that we serve include: Upper Southampton, Lower Southampton, Trevose, Feasterville, Bensalem, Newtown, Doylestown, Richboro, Holland, Warminster, Huntingdon Valley, Morrisville, Yardley, New Hope, Solebury, Middleton, Oxford Valley, Neshaminy, Ivyland, Willow Grove, Bristol, Lahaska and more!

Last modified: 11/10/06